Having seen The Lady Shelters deliver a superb thirty-minute set of great Rock ‘n’ Roll at the Rolling Stones tribute night just before Christmas, I wanted to see how they would fair over a much longer show. Rather wonderfully, they were playing a full set just twenty minutes from where I happened to be last Saturday night and as a bonus, the winter cold had eased up for the evening so I didn’t have to bundle up like an Eskimo to get there. It was the first time I had been to The Gemini Theater and surprised me as is a Live House, downstairs as is usual in Japan but It also has a refreshment kiosk, graffiti free toilets and a top-level sound and light system. It also has tiered seating. It’s a proper theatre, not just a name.

 

The gig is well attended and it’s noticeable that a lot of the fans are sporting The Lady Shelters T-shirts and parkas, a couple of them have tote bags. Clearly this band already has a good and loyal following, a fact emphasised by the applause that went up when the lights went down and if there is still a government restriction on cheering at concerts due to covid, then certainly the bloke next to me didn’t care and neither did others in the audience. The band are dynamic from the start as they launch into track one from their debut album which then goes straight into the intro of Electric Ladyshelter. Yoshida looks resplendent in her full-length chequered coat as she pounds away on the floor tom and has a permanent smile that you could see 2000 light years from home. It’s noticeable that she uses the same technique as Charlie Watts, i.e. holding back from hitting the hi-hat when hitting the snare. Kento on bass interweaves classic Rock ‘n’ Roll bass line with his own ideas to create something very special with Yoshida and together, they are a rhythm section on par with McCartney/Starr, Benjamin/Jamerson from Motown and Wyman/Watts. Over the top of this, Jicoo is adding telecaster riffs that are at times solid and other times loose; his feel is akin to a mixture of Keith, Ronnie, Chuck and Scotty Moore; his timing is natural. As if that were not enough, Mizuki is at the front, singing her heart out and has the audience in the palm of her hand. She’s the perfect frontwoman, hypnotic, never misses a note and seems to have endless energy. Together, the band is a highly entertaining ensemble, never boring, constantly rocking.

Two hours fly past. Back at home, I listen to their last two albums and relive the gig. The Lady Shelters are great on record but live, they are something special. In the same way that all the great bands come alive on stage, The Who, The Faces, The Stones, etc, The Lady Shelters channel that electricity, through themselves and out into the crowd. It comes from the magic of the right musicians being together, playing as a band and not for their egos. It’s 100%, good-time Rock ‘n’ Roll. 

 

Set List

腰抜けシェイク

ELECTRIC LADYSHELTER

ヴェルヴェット・サイドカー

Wild Biggest Pandas

Kamakura Pinball

Wildside Outsider

フルーツパーラー東京

ローリング・サンダー・デビュー

Stay With Me (The Faces cover)

Summertime Blues (The Who cover)*

メロディ・イン・ブルー

おもてなし

言いだせない

枯れっぱなしのCarry Over

アイ・ラブ・ユー

ルピーナ・サンシャイン

シャンパン＆リーフ・アルファ

New Song

ふざけんじゃねぇ

Hybrid Amplifier

Supersonic Transistor Radio

Sadistic Mizuki Punch

START UP

Encore

Lady Galaxy Dust

Cupola Motor Town

 

*Originally recorded by Eddie Cochran on 28th March, 1958, The Lady Shelters version is based on the one by The Who, first released on record on their 1970 album, Live at Leeds.